EOH’s share price jumped more than 7% on Wednesday morning after the JSE-listed IT services group reported a positive earnings update.
The share price, which has been volatile in recent weeks, was quoted at 10.30am at R152,98/share, up 7% on the trading session. The shares had briefly touched R153,36.
“A review of the financial results for the six months ended 31 January 2017 by management has indicated that earnings per share are expected to be between R4,30 and R4,48, reflecting an increase of between 20% and 25% compared to the earnings per share of R3,58 for the six months ended 31 January 2016,” EOH said in a note to shareholders.
Headline earnings per share are expected to be between R4,31 and R4,49, also reflecting an increase of between 20% and 25% over the prior year’s number.
EOH, which is expected to announce its interim financial results on 15 March, last month announced it was buying 100% of the long-established Cornastone group of companies, subject to regulatory approvals.
The black-led Cornastone has been in business for more than 15 years and has annual revenue of over R300m. It employs over 280 people and has about 100 enterprise customers.
The value of the acquisition was not disclosed.
In a statement, EOH CEO Asher Bohbot said the deal would enhance the group’s service offerings. “Cornastone is a recognised leader in its field, has an extremely strong management team and a skilled employee base,” Bohbot said.
Among other things, Cornastone provides niche support services to telecommunications network operators in the areas of call centre operations, billing operations, revenue assurance and operational data analysis; provides application managed services for high availability and business continuity; and provides revenue management and revenue protection solutions to the public sector. — (c) 2017 NewsCentral Media
